Electricity Harvesting: A Powerfull Step for Mankind
US and Canadian scientists are making huge strides in the development of energy-harvesting technology. They recently developed a device that collects electricity generated by normal everyday human movement such as walking. This device, which they call the Biomechanical Energy Harvester, makes it possible to harness the energy produced by the body as it performs ordinary movements. Biomechanical energy can then be re-used to power all sorts of portable devices from mobile phones to laptops, and even emergency services equipment.
The device is wrapped around the knee joint like a brace, and uses the same principle applied to braking systems found in hybrid electric cars. This braking process employs the concept of “regenerative braking,” basically taking the energy produced as heat and using that to drive a generator. One of the scientists leading the project, Dr. Max Donelan of Simon Fraser University in Canada, explains “walking is a lot like stop-and-go driving.” Muscles are continuously accelerating and decelerating the body. The device collects the energy produced by the effort the knee makes when pausing in between strides, and converts it to portable and re-usable power. A mere stride amounts to an average of 5 watts of energy whereas a minute of brisk walking can produce as much as 13 watts, enough to power 30 minutes of talk time on a cellular phone.
Dr. Art Kuo at the University of Michigan also sees the possibility of integrating the technology with prosthetics. “It would probably involve building a new [prosthetic] knee that uses some existing ideas and then also tries to harvest energy using these principles,” he said. The same technology can then be further developed to integrate a form of an “exoskeleton” to help people who have suffered a stroke or spinal cord injury to move again.
The prototype currently weighs 3.5 pounds but Dr. Donelan aims to release a better and lighter model within the next 18 months, and one which is expected to benefit a diverse group of people, starting with amputees who rely on the use of powered prosthetic limbs, to mountaineers who constantly need to recharge their batteries. This technology may also benefit soldiers on overnight missions, who usually carry up to 13 kg of replacement batteries on their backs to provide energy for their navigational equipment and other military gear.
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